In this article we are going to introduce some of the properties of color. First we are going to define what the 4 properties of color are. Then we’re going to define temperature. Finally we’re going to explore the properties of temperature.
There are 4 properties of color, 3 are fairly well known and the 4th is a little lesser known. The properties of color are hue, saturation, brightness and temperature. Now Hue is what color it is, so is it red, yellow, green, blue or violet? Saturation also known as intensity refers to how much of a color there is, how rich, how intense, how much pigment versus how grey – also known as ‘desaturated’. Brightness refers to the value – how light or how dark a color is. And temperature refers to how warm or how cool a color is, and we’ll explore temperature next. To learn more about how to see color view our oil painting training.
Temperature is how warm or how cool a color is. Now there’s a lot of debate as to which colors are warm and which set of colors are cool. Some artists would say that green can be warm or cool, violet can be warm or cool – yellow can go either way as well. But for the sake of this course and for the sake of this video I’m going to define the warm colors as the spectrum ranging from red to orange to yellow and the cool colors as the spectrum ranging from green to blue to purple or violet. One of the interesting properties of temperature is that temperature is relative, the terms warm and cool is a relative term. So that means there’s not only a set of warm colors – the red, yellow and orange, and a set of cool colors – the green ,blue and violet, but each color in itself can have a warm and cool version of itself. So for example if we look at the pallet here we can see that we have a warm and cool yellow, we have a warm and cool orange, warm and cool red, warm and cool violet, warm and cool blue, warm and cool green and even each one of these individual colors can have a warm and cool version of itself thought he key to remember is that temperature – warm and cool is a relative term. When we look at the color wheel, there are two colors that represent a unique problem in terms of their temperature, and those two colors are orange and blue, now orange is what I define as the warmest on the color wheel and blue I define as the coolest color on the color wheel. And the reason for that is if we look at orange – if we go to either side of the color wheel we will get a warm color, so for example if we add red to our orange, move orange to the right towards red we get red-orange which is still a warm color, if we go the opposite direction, add yellow, we get yellow-orange which is still a very warm color and the inverse is also true for blue. Now if we take blue and add a little bit of red or violet we’ll get blue-violet, still cool, and we go the opposite way, we adding yellow or green we’ll get blue-green, still a very cool color. So because of their location on the color wheel there isn’t really such a thing as a warm or cool orange or warm or cool blue, actually the only way to make a quote “cool orange” is to go down into the middle of the color wheel to the grey, actually add blue to orange and go straight at the complement and it’ll create a grayish orange or in other words a cool orange and vice versa for blue, the only way to truly make a warm blue is to go up into the middle of the color wheel, add its complement, add orange and create a grey blue which will be a warmer version of itself. Because orange and blue present this unique problem I propose that another way to refer a colors temperature is by the location on the color wheel. So if we go back to the pallet, we saw that we had a warm and cool version of each color, so to refer to them by location starting with yellow, instead of saying warm and cool yellow we can say we have yellow-orange or yellow green depending on which way we go on the color wheel. Orange as we say depending on which way you go, either a red-orange or a yellow-orange going towards yellow, if you take red and a little bit of yellow-orange you’ll get red-orange, go the opposite way you’ll get red-violet and same is true with the cools, violet you can either go red-violet, blue-violet – blue we saw earlier, it can either go blue-green or blue-violet, the green itself can either become a yellow-green going towards yellow or blue-green going in the opposite direction.
Ok so that was a brief introduction to the properties of color, Hue, Saturation, Brightness and temperature – we want to remember that temperature is a relative term so we want to become familiar with the color wheel and the colors location on the color wheel [6:00] which will really help us to shift and move the temperature of a color as we begin to paint, as we become more familiar with temperature and more familiar with the color wheel, we’ll not only get a better understanding of color but we’ll have better control of color as we begin to mix and use color in paintings.
In this section we have a look at the terminology of color properties and their meaning in different contexts. Color properties allow us to distinguish and define colors. The more we know about color properties, the better we can adjust colors to our needs.
Hue defines pure color in terms of "green", "red" or "magenta". Hue also defines mixtures of two pure colors like "red-yellow" (~ "orange"), or "yellow-green" (limitations to this statement will be addressed later). Hue is usually one property of three when used to determine a certain color. Hue is a more technical definition of our color perception which can be used to communicate color ideas.
Hue ranges from 0° to 359° when measured in degrees.
Hues are basic colors we learn to connect with words as children. Hues can refer to the set of "pure" colors within a color space.Tint
Tint is a color term commonly used by painters.
A tint is a mixing result of an original color to which has been added white.
If you tinted a color, you've been adding white to the original color.A tint is lighter than the original color.
When used as a dimension of a color space, tint can be the amount of white added to an original color. In such a color space a pure color would be non-tinted.
Other usage / meanings of tint: * A soft touch or shimmer of a different hue! * Hair color which doesn't fully cover natural hair color. It adds a touch of color which is supposed to wash out within five to eight weeks. * Car Window Tint: means of changing the color/transparency of car windows.Shade
Shade is a color term commonly used by painters.
A shade is a mixing result of an original color to which has been added black.
If you shaded a color, you've been adding black to the original color.A shade is darker than the original color.
When used as a dimension of a color space, shade can be the amount of black added to an original color. In such a color space a pure color would be non-shaded.
Tone
Tone is a color term commonly used by painters.
There is a broader and a narrower definition of tone.
The broader definition defines tone as a result of mixing a pure color with any neutral/grayscale color including the two extremes white and black. By this definition all tints and shades are also considered to be tones.
The narrower definition defines tone as a result of mixing a pure color with any grayscale color excluding white and black. By this definition a certain amount of white and black must have been added to the original color. Furthermore the following is true: If you changed the tonal value of a color, you've been adding gray (any ratio of mixture) to the original color.
A tone is softer than the original color.
Tone is not used as a dimension of a color space. Instead, the tonal difference consists of the amounts of white and/or black used to determine a certain color. Exception:Tone as a result of mixing an original color with a hue-scale color (e.g. brownscale / sepia).
Saturation
Saturation is a color term commonly used by (digital / analog) imaging experts. Saturation is usually one property of three when used to determine a certain color and measured as percentage value.
Saturation defines a range from pure color (100%) to gray (0%) at a constant lightness level. A pure color is fully saturated.
From a perceptional point of view saturation influences the grade of purity or vividness of a color/image. A desaturated image is said to be dull, less colorful or washed out but can also make the impression of being softer.
We will clear up the term saturation from a color mixing point of view in the color spaces section.Lightness
Lightness is a color term commonly used by (digital / analog) imaging experts. Lightness is usually one property of three when used to determine a certain color and measured as percentage value.
Lightness defines a range from dark (0%) to fully illuminated (100%). Any original hue has the average lightness level of 50%.
A painter might say lightness is the range from fully shaded to fully tinted.You can lighten or darken a color by changing its lightness value.
Chromatic Signal / Chromaticity / Chroma
This family of color terms is commonly used by (digital / analog) imaging and video experts.
In the previous section we learned that color perception is a result of achromatic and chromatic signals.
We can therefore define a chromatic signal as the component of color perception that is not achromatic, i.e. any deviation from neutral-color perception (dark, grayscale, illuminated).
The chromatic intensity or chromaticity is the intensity of the chromatic signal contributing to color perception. Chromaticity is similar to saturation since color / an image with a low chromaticity value is not very colorful.
Chroma is a component of a color model. There's a blue-yellow and a red-green chroma component.
Intensity / Luminosity / Luma
In general, intensity is a synonym for magnitude, degree or strength. It can therefore be used in conjunction with any color property. Nevertheless, it carries special meaning in certain contexts.
For painters the meaning of intensity is equivalent to the meaning of saturation.
For physicists intensity refers to different aspects of radiation.
When speaking of light, the intensity can mean the number of photons a light source emits.
The following sources provide a deeper insight:- Luminosity
- Intensity
- Luminosity Function
- Lumen
Luma (%) is the intensity of the achromatic signal contributing to our color perception.
Brightness / (relative) Luminance
Brightness is an attribute of our perception which is mainly influenced by a color's lightness. This is probably why brightness and lightness are often mixed up. Brightness is not a color property, if used "correctly". For one color of specific hue the perception of brightness is also more intense, if we increase saturation. A higher level of saturation makes a color look brighter. In relation to other colors the brightness intensity of a color is also influenced by its hue. We can then speak of (relative) luminance to refer to brightness.
It's very important to know more about luminance.
Grayscale
A grayscale is a series of neutral colors, ranging from black to white, or the other way around. Each step's color value is usually shifted by constant amounts.
A grayscale color can be determined by a value of a one-dimensional color space:
On a white surface (e.g. paper) the grayscale color's value equals to the relative intensity of black (ink) applied to the medium.
On a black surface (e.g. monitor) the grayscale color's value equals to the relative intensity of white (light) applied to the medium.
Previous section: Color Vision
Next section: The Color Wheel
Link to this page: